Alestes is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Alestidae, the African characins. As suggested by the name, the Alestidae was formerly included in Characidae before that family was limited to South American fish. Myletes was a synonym of Alestes, which was also used for various South American serrasalmids but this name was suppressed by Opinion 1813 of the ICZN.Myletes Cuvier, 1814, Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Within the Lake Chad basin, Alestes and Hydrocynus, collectively known as salanga, are lightly smoked and dried.Fisheries Development Within the Framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission by A. Staunch, presented at the Symposium on the Evaluation of Fishery Resources in the Development and Management of Inland Fisheries, 1972 (hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization)
Species There are currently seven recognized species in this genus: Alestes ansorgii Boulenger, 1910 Alestes baremoze (Joannis, 1835) (Silversides) Alestes dentex (Linnaeus, 1758) (Characin) Alestes inferus Stiassny, Schelly & Mamonekene, 2009 Alestes liebrechtsii Boulenger, 1898 Alestes macrophthalmus Günther, 1867 (Torpedo robber) Alestes stuhlmannii Pfeffer, 1896
References
External links on 2014-11-26 Bailly, N. (2014). Alestes. In: Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2014) FishBase. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species